(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for a flow control baffle in a vehicle heater and more particularly, to a flow control baffle apparatus, which implements a flow control function of a fluid passing through the interior of a heater and improves the heat transfer performance of the heater.
(b) Background Art
Generally, fuel cell vehicles include a fuel cell stack that generates electric energy, a fuel supply unit that supplies a fuel (e.g., hydrogen) to the fuel cell stack, an air supply unit that supplies air as an oxidant required for the electrochemical reaction to the fuel cell stack, and a Thermal Management System (TMS). The TMS is a heat and water management system that removes reaction heat from the fuel cell stack to the exterior of the fuel cell system to adjust the operation temperature of the fuel cell stack.
Cooling water flowing within a cooling water line of the TMS cools the stack as a refrigerant. Upon cold startup of the system the cooling water, rapidly thaws the stack as a heating medium heated by the heater. Additionally, the TMS is provided with a cooling water heater for heating cooling water that is a refrigerant. FIG. 6 depicts a cooling water heater mounted within a stack cooling system of a typical fuel cell vehicle according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 6, the stack cooling system of a typical fuel cell vehicle, including a stack 1 and a heater 2 connected in parallel to each other, have a separate valve 3 that is used to control the flow rate of cooling water flowing to the stack 1 and the heater 2. Furthermore, when the heater is connected in series to the stack due to a limitation of a package, the heat transfer performance of the heater is reduced due to stagnation of cooling water on the heater slipstream, thereby increasing the difficulty cooling the heater.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.